LCC Open 02-04: Aravindh among the early leaders
Four rounds of play have been completed at the London Chess Classic FIDE Open 2016. Three leaders, all rated below 2600, have emerged and one of them is India's Aravindh Chithambaram. In the British Knock-Out, Nigel Short and David Howell have begun their final six-game match to determine the British KO Champion. We have an illustrated report with critical moments from the games. More...
LCC Open 02-04: Aravindh among the early leaders
Pictures by Lennart Ootes
Three grandmasters are leading the London Chess Classic Open 2016 after four rounds of play. The leaders are American GM Alexander Shabalov, Swiss GM Sebastian Bogner and...
...Indian GM Aravindh Chithambaram.
Let us looking at the more interesting moments in the previous few rounds.
Senior British GM Keith Arkell (2447) was raining a wild attack on French GM Sebastian Maze (2608). Like most such attacks, this one was unsound as well. And Maze found the correct 34...Rg6 here. Black is winning.
But in all probability, the players must have been time trouble here and Maze misplayed the position and lost!
[Event "London Classic FIDE Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.12.11"]
[Round "4.10"]
[White "Arkell, Keith C"]
[Black "Maze, Sebastien"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E68"]
[WhiteElo "2447"]
[BlackElo "2608"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r1k1/5p1p/1p1p3r/n1p2P2/pqPnP3/2R1R2P/1P4B1/3Q2K1 w - - 0 34"]
[PlyCount "19"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:04:04"]
[BlackClock "0:01:38"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.12.11"]
[Round "4.10"]
[White "Arkell, Keith C"]
[Black "Maze, Sebastien"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E68"]
[WhiteElo "2447"]
[BlackElo "2608"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r1k1/5p1p/1p1p3r/n1p2P2/pqPnP3/2R1R2P/1P4B1/3Q2K1 w - - 0 34"]
[PlyCount "19"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:04:04"]
[BlackClock "0:01:38"]
{[#]} 34. Qg4+ Rg6 {97} 35. fxg6 {18} hxg6 {7} 36. e5 {68} Rxe5 {219} (36...
Qxb2 $1 37. Bd5 Qb1+ 38. Kg2 dxe5 39. Qd7 Qb2+ 40. Kf1 Rf8 $17 {Black has a
piece and four pawns for the rook and is clearly better.}) 37. Rxe5 {88} dxe5 {
2} 38. Bd5 $16 {10} Kg7 {176} 39. Qd7 {183 Sadly for Black, f7 is indefensible.
} Ne2+ {56} 40. Kf2 {156} Nxc3 {74} 41. Qxf7+ {5} Kh6 {2} 42. Qf8+ {8} Kg5 {
114 Mate in 3...} 43. h4+ 1-0
Qxb2 $1 37. Bd5 Qb1+ 38. Kg2 dxe5 39. Qd7 Qb2+ 40. Kf1 Rf8 $17 {Black has a
piece and four pawns for the rook and is clearly better.}) 37. Rxe5 {88} dxe5 {
2} 38. Bd5 $16 {10} Kg7 {176} 39. Qd7 {183 Sadly for Black, f7 is indefensible.
} Ne2+ {56} 40. Kf2 {156} Nxc3 {74} 41. Qxf7+ {5} Kh6 {2} 42. Qf8+ {8} Kg5 {
114 Mate in 3...} 43. h4+ 1-0
White to play. Aravindh Chithambaram is among the leaders and a key reason for that is the pawn-winning shot he found against British IM and writer Jovanka Houska (2397). Not that hard to find when you know you must defend f2.
In the fourth round, Aravindh found another shot with black, this time against German GM Florian Handke (2515).
[Event "London Classic FIDE Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.12.11"]
[Round "4.5"]
[White "Handke, Florian"]
[Black "Aravindh, Chithambaram VR"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2515"]
[BlackElo "2566"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5rk1/5pb1/p1r3p1/4qP1p/1P2N2P/Pb3Q1B/1P1R4/1K2R3 b - - 0 30"]
[PlyCount "15"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:05:45"]
[BlackClock "0:01:35"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.12.11"]
[Round "4.5"]
[White "Handke, Florian"]
[Black "Aravindh, Chithambaram VR"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2515"]
[BlackElo "2566"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5rk1/5pb1/p1r3p1/4qP1p/1P2N2P/Pb3Q1B/1P1R4/1K2R3 b - - 0 30"]
[PlyCount "15"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:05:45"]
[BlackClock "0:01:35"]
{[#]} 30... Bc2+ {165} 31. Rxc2 {30} Rxc2 {4} 32. Nc3 {62} Rxb2+ {118} 33. Kxb2
{3} Qxe1 {5} 34. f6 {9} Bh6 {102} 35. Bf1 {20} Rc8 {116} 36. Bxa6 {40} Bc1+ {29
} 37. Kb3 {150} Qe6+ {8} 0-1
{3} Qxe1 {5} 34. f6 {9} Bh6 {102} 35. Bf1 {20} Rc8 {116} 36. Bxa6 {40} Bc1+ {29
} 37. Kb3 {150} Qe6+ {8} 0-1
GM Eltaj Safarli (2691; in the picture) lost to leader Shabalov in the fourth round. The game was a typical Shabalov attack:
[Event "London Classic FIDE Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.12.11"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Shabalov, Alexander"]
[Black "Safarli, Eltaj"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E59"]
[WhiteElo "2563"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:11:12"]
[BlackClock "0:09:55"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.12.11"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Shabalov, Alexander"]
[Black "Safarli, Eltaj"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E59"]
[WhiteElo "2563"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:11:12"]
[BlackClock "0:09:55"]
1. d4 {0} Nf6 {204} 2. c4 {0} e6 {45} 3. Nc3 {2} Bb4 {25} 4. e3 {10} O-O {26}
5. Bd3 {338} c5 {169} 6. Nf3 {31} d5 {20} 7. O-O {23} Nc6 {123} 8. a3 {65} Bxc3
{31} 9. bxc3 {8} dxc4 {24} 10. Bxc4 {7} Qc7 {27} 11. Bb2 {208} b6 {510} 12. Qe2
{552} Bb7 {120} 13. Ba2 {472} Na5 {367} 14. Ne5 {450} Rac8 {419} 15. Rac1 {34}
Nd7 {287} 16. Nf3 {864} Nf6 {605} 17. Rfd1 {786} Bc6 {224} 18. c4 {226} Ba4 {
238} 19. Rd3 {273} cxd4 {283} 20. exd4 {133} b5 {122} 21. c5 {183} Nd5 {306}
22. Ng5 {718} Nc4 {103} 23. Rf3 {93} Nf4 {790} 24. Qe4 {64} Ng6 {5} 25. Bc3 {68
} Rcd8 {582} 26. h4 {59} Qe7 {259} 27. Re1 {190} Rd5 {155} 28. Bb1 {39} Nxa3 {
84} 29. Bd3 {12} f5 {84} 30. Qe2 {187} Nxh4 {59} 31. Rg3 {61} Rf6 {16} 32. Qa2
{63} f4 {46} 33. Rg4 {9} Nc4 {29} 34. Bxh7+ {78} Kf8 {30} 35. Be4 {29} Rxg5 {31
} 36. Rxg5 {9} Rh6 {27} 37. Rg4 {28} g5 {33} 38. Qe2 {107} Qf6 {26} 39. g3 {40}
f3 {33} 40. Qd3 {13} Ng2 {8} 41. Ra1 {57} Nge3 {0} 42. d5 {0} e5 {0} 43. fxe3 {
0} f2+ {0} 44. Kg2 {0} Bc2 {0} 45. Qe2 {0} Bxe4+ {0} 46. Rxe4 {0} Qf5 {0} 47.
Rxc4 {0} bxc4 {0} 48. g4 {0} Qh7 {0} 49. Bxe5 {0} Ke8 {0} 50. e4 {0} 1-0
5. Bd3 {338} c5 {169} 6. Nf3 {31} d5 {20} 7. O-O {23} Nc6 {123} 8. a3 {65} Bxc3
{31} 9. bxc3 {8} dxc4 {24} 10. Bxc4 {7} Qc7 {27} 11. Bb2 {208} b6 {510} 12. Qe2
{552} Bb7 {120} 13. Ba2 {472} Na5 {367} 14. Ne5 {450} Rac8 {419} 15. Rac1 {34}
Nd7 {287} 16. Nf3 {864} Nf6 {605} 17. Rfd1 {786} Bc6 {224} 18. c4 {226} Ba4 {
238} 19. Rd3 {273} cxd4 {283} 20. exd4 {133} b5 {122} 21. c5 {183} Nd5 {306}
22. Ng5 {718} Nc4 {103} 23. Rf3 {93} Nf4 {790} 24. Qe4 {64} Ng6 {5} 25. Bc3 {68
} Rcd8 {582} 26. h4 {59} Qe7 {259} 27. Re1 {190} Rd5 {155} 28. Bb1 {39} Nxa3 {
84} 29. Bd3 {12} f5 {84} 30. Qe2 {187} Nxh4 {59} 31. Rg3 {61} Rf6 {16} 32. Qa2
{63} f4 {46} 33. Rg4 {9} Nc4 {29} 34. Bxh7+ {78} Kf8 {30} 35. Be4 {29} Rxg5 {31
} 36. Rxg5 {9} Rh6 {27} 37. Rg4 {28} g5 {33} 38. Qe2 {107} Qf6 {26} 39. g3 {40}
f3 {33} 40. Qd3 {13} Ng2 {8} 41. Ra1 {57} Nge3 {0} 42. d5 {0} e5 {0} 43. fxe3 {
0} f2+ {0} 44. Kg2 {0} Bc2 {0} 45. Qe2 {0} Bxe4+ {0} 46. Rxe4 {0} Qf5 {0} 47.
Rxc4 {0} bxc4 {0} 48. g4 {0} Qh7 {0} 49. Bxe5 {0} Ke8 {0} 50. e4 {0} 1-0
Swedish GM Erik Blomqvist (2567) played with three queenside passed pawns against the black bishop. It is like a group of wild dogs taking down an elephant...
[Event "London Classic FIDE Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.12.11"]
[Round "4.16"]
[White "Blomqvist, Erik"]
[Black "Nasuta, Grzegorz"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2448"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/3k1p1p/2bPp1p1/4b1P1/1PP4P/P7/3R1P2/2K5 b - - 0 29"]
[PlyCount "34"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:32:57"]
[BlackClock "0:30:35"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.12.11"]
[Round "4.16"]
[White "Blomqvist, Erik"]
[Black "Nasuta, Grzegorz"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2448"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/3k1p1p/2bPp1p1/4b1P1/1PP4P/P7/3R1P2/2K5 b - - 0 29"]
[PlyCount "34"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:32:57"]
[BlackClock "0:30:35"]
{[#]} 29... Bf4 {201} 30. b5 {4} Be4 {299} 31. c5 {6} Bd5 {54} 32. a4 {65} h6 {
175} 33. a5 {249} hxg5 {2} 34. hxg5 {7} Bxg5 {57} 35. a6 {7} Bxd2+ {9} 36. Kxd2
{5} Ba8 {4} 37. Kc3 {154} g5 {14} 38. Kb4 {107} g4 {2} 39. b6 {20} Kc6 {6} 40.
b7 {67} Bxb7 {1} 41. axb7 {0} Kxb7 {0} 42. Kb5 {0} f5 {0} 43. c6+ {0} Kc8 {0}
44. Kb6 {0} f4 {0} 45. c7 {0} Kd7 {0} 46. Kb7 {0} 1-0
175} 33. a5 {249} hxg5 {2} 34. hxg5 {7} Bxg5 {57} 35. a6 {7} Bxd2+ {9} 36. Kxd2
{5} Ba8 {4} 37. Kc3 {154} g5 {14} 38. Kb4 {107} g4 {2} 39. b6 {20} Kc6 {6} 40.
b7 {67} Bxb7 {1} 41. axb7 {0} Kxb7 {0} 42. Kb5 {0} f5 {0} 43. c6+ {0} Kc8 {0}
44. Kb6 {0} f4 {0} 45. c7 {0} Kd7 {0} 46. Kb7 {0} 1-0
White was a pleasant pawn up but gave it back for an attack. But here, he blundered with 27.Rh4 and it is just equal. But GM Andrei Istratescu (2294), who was white, was so disenchanted that he went on to lose!
[Event "London Classic FIDE Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.12.10"]
[Round "2.11"]
[White "Istratescu, Andrei"]
[Black "Zapolskis, Antanas"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A40"]
[WhiteElo "2596"]
[BlackElo "2294"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6rk/3nQ1p1/2q2p1p/3p1N2/2p4R/2P3P1/1P3P1P/6K1 b - - 0 27"]
[PlyCount "29"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:45:10"]
[BlackClock "0:01:19"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.12.10"]
[Round "2.11"]
[White "Istratescu, Andrei"]
[Black "Zapolskis, Antanas"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A40"]
[WhiteElo "2596"]
[BlackElo "2294"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6rk/3nQ1p1/2q2p1p/3p1N2/2p4R/2P3P1/1P3P1P/6K1 b - - 0 27"]
[PlyCount "29"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:45:10"]
[BlackClock "0:01:19"]
{[#]} 27... Ne5 $1 {44 Black saves the game! He threatens a knight fork and
also ...Ng6.} 28. Nxh6 {220 is equal.} Nf3+ {330} 29. Kf1 {47} Nxh4 {137} 30.
Nxg8 {32} d4 {102} 31. gxh4 {239} d3 $15 {29 Black can even begin to push for
a win now.} 32. Ke1 {102} Kxg8 {26} 33. h5 $17 {56} Kh7 {54} 34. Kd2 {364} Qa4
{243} 35. Qe4+ {42} (35. Ke3 Qc2 36. Qe4+ $11) 35... Kh8 {6} 36. Ke3 {73} Qd7 {
92} 37. Kd2 {53} Qb5 {18} 38. Ke3 {58} (38. b3 cxb3 39. Qxd3 Qxh5 40. Qd8+ Kh7
41. c4 Qh4 42. Qd3+ Kg8 43. Qd8+ $11) 38... Qg5+ $19 {29} 39. Kd4 {33} d2 {20}
40. Qf3 {12} Qe5+ {28} 41. Kxc4 {3} Qe1 0-1
also ...Ng6.} 28. Nxh6 {220 is equal.} Nf3+ {330} 29. Kf1 {47} Nxh4 {137} 30.
Nxg8 {32} d4 {102} 31. gxh4 {239} d3 $15 {29 Black can even begin to push for
a win now.} 32. Ke1 {102} Kxg8 {26} 33. h5 $17 {56} Kh7 {54} 34. Kd2 {364} Qa4
{243} 35. Qe4+ {42} (35. Ke3 Qc2 36. Qe4+ $11) 35... Kh8 {6} 36. Ke3 {73} Qd7 {
92} 37. Kd2 {53} Qb5 {18} 38. Ke3 {58} (38. b3 cxb3 39. Qxd3 Qxh5 40. Qd8+ Kh7
41. c4 Qh4 42. Qd3+ Kg8 43. Qd8+ $11) 38... Qg5+ $19 {29} 39. Kd4 {33} d2 {20}
40. Qf3 {12} Qe5+ {28} 41. Kxc4 {3} Qe1 0-1
Indian champion GM Karthikeyan Murali (2530) found a cute way to win his winning position.
11-year-old IM Praggnanandhaa R. (2452) is on 2.5/4. He lost to Dutch GM Benjamin Bok (2598) from a position he should have held easily.
[Event "London Classic FIDE Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.12.11"]
[Round "4.11"]
[White "Bok, Benjamin"]
[Black "Praggnanandhaa R"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2598"]
[BlackElo "2452"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5k2/1R3p2/5rp1/7p/1P2p3/6P1/5PKP/8 w - - 0 35"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:32:32"]
[BlackClock "0:02:39"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.12.11"]
[Round "4.11"]
[White "Bok, Benjamin"]
[Black "Praggnanandhaa R"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2598"]
[BlackElo "2452"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5k2/1R3p2/5rp1/7p/1P2p3/6P1/5PKP/8 w - - 0 35"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:32:32"]
[BlackClock "0:02:39"]
{[#]} 35. Rd7 {The position should be a draw in more than one ways.} h4 {
476 Better was} ({For example:} 35... Rf3 36. Rd4 f5 37. Rd6 Kf7 38. b5 Rb3 39.
b6 Rb2 40. Kf1 g5 $11) 36. gxh4 $14 {80} Kg7 {180} 37. b5 {41} Re6 {170} 38.
Rd4 {29} Kf6 {99} 39. Rb4 {20 Bringing the rook behind the pawn!} Rb6 {16} 40.
Kg3 {16} Ke5 {96} 41. Kg4 {0} f6 {0} 42. Rb3 {31} Kd4 {0} 43. Kf4 {86} Kc4 {0}
44. Rg3 {16} Rxb5 {0} 45. Rxg6 {25} Rb2 {0} 46. Kxe4 {44} Rxf2 {0} 47. h5 {28}
Kc5 {0} 48. h6 {33} Kd6 {0} 49. h3 {33} Rh2 {0} 50. Rg3 {14} Ra2 {0} 51. h7 {13
} Ra4+ {0} 52. Kf5 {9} Rh4 {0} 53. Kg6 {19} f5 {0} 54. Kg7 {30} f4 {0} 55. Ra3
{23} Ke5 {0} 56. h8=Q {6} Rxh8 {0} 57. Kxh8 {4} Ke4 {0} 58. h4 {80} Kf5 {0} 59.
h5 {8} Kg5 {0} 60. Rf3 {11} Kg4 {0} 61. Rf1 {17} 1-0
476 Better was} ({For example:} 35... Rf3 36. Rd4 f5 37. Rd6 Kf7 38. b5 Rb3 39.
b6 Rb2 40. Kf1 g5 $11) 36. gxh4 $14 {80} Kg7 {180} 37. b5 {41} Re6 {170} 38.
Rd4 {29} Kf6 {99} 39. Rb4 {20 Bringing the rook behind the pawn!} Rb6 {16} 40.
Kg3 {16} Ke5 {96} 41. Kg4 {0} f6 {0} 42. Rb3 {31} Kd4 {0} 43. Kf4 {86} Kc4 {0}
44. Rg3 {16} Rxb5 {0} 45. Rxg6 {25} Rb2 {0} 46. Kxe4 {44} Rxf2 {0} 47. h5 {28}
Kc5 {0} 48. h6 {33} Kd6 {0} 49. h3 {33} Rh2 {0} 50. Rg3 {14} Ra2 {0} 51. h7 {13
} Ra4+ {0} 52. Kf5 {9} Rh4 {0} 53. Kg6 {19} f5 {0} 54. Kg7 {30} f4 {0} 55. Ra3
{23} Ke5 {0} 56. h8=Q {6} Rxh8 {0} 57. Kxh8 {4} Ke4 {0} 58. h4 {80} Kf5 {0} 59.
h5 {8} Kg5 {0} 60. Rf3 {11} Kg4 {0} 61. Rf1 {17} 1-0
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India's GM Abhijeet Gupta (2634) is on 3.0/4.
Colourful attire
Natasha Regan and Matthew Sadler (centre) with their book 'Chess for Life which has been voted as the British Book of the Year.
She surely has been in love with chess for decades...
Chess Sculpture
Children enjoying chess. More than 500 chess fans are present at the Olympia stadium where the Classic is being held.
Chess tattoo on the arm is a nice statement to make!
Colourful atmosphere, colourful head!
In the British KO Championship 2016, Nigel Short eliminated Luke McShane in a play-off.
David Howell also reached the finals after a 98-move grind against Gawain Jones.
Howell and Short now play a six-game match to determine the winner. The first game ended in a draw.
The excitement is bound to increase in the Classic from this point onwards.
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